Cars

It has been a bit slow around the farm and has been raining off and on this week, which means it will be time to mow the 4 acres again.

This past weekend I went to a classic car auction.  Since I restored Model T's as a hobby a while back I prefer older cars, but any car auction gets my attention.

There was one Model T truck which brought $7800 - a bit much for a TT.  The outside had some restoration work done, however the engine was untouched.  The interior was not correct and a bit cobbled up.  It did have potential.  When I restored Model T's it was a complete frame off, including completely rebuilding the engine.

The highest priced car was a 1932 Ford 5 window coupe hot rod, which brought $80,000.  The '32 -  5 window is rare, but that seemed like a big chunk of money for the car.  My preference would have been one restored to original factory condition.  I would guess all that was left of this car when found was the body, thus it was turned into a hot rod.

Just one day more...

Mick is 70!

Mick Jagger turned 70 on Friday.  One of the greatest of all time.  

Just one day more...

Health Insurance. Again.

In his weekly column last week, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman (R) continued his obstructionist attitude against the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare).  Heineman cited the delay in the implementation of the employer mandate as a sign that , “Obamacare is in deep trouble.”  

The fact is that the Administration delayed the mandate to afford employers another year to work out the details.  Hardly a sign that the entire Affordable Health Care Act is in trouble.

Heineman went on to say, “Here in Nebraska, Obamacare will have a toll on taxpayers, through increased premiums for hard-working, middle income Nebraska families. Additionally, the current Medicaid provisions alone will cost the taxpayers millions in coming years.”  

Using the buzz words “hard-working, middle income Nebraska families” to make his point about the Medicaid expansion in Obamacare, Heineman is pitting the so-called middle class against the elderly and poor who rely on Medicaid.  He neglected to say that Nebraska has refused to implement the Medicaid expansion and refused to implement the health insurance exchange.

Heineman also cited a poll and stated, “(the) Lincoln poll of rural Nebraskans found that 54 percent of the respondents believe that the country will be worse off under the new law while only 9 percent thought we would be better off.”  

Well, duh Dave.  You have been railing against Obamacare since it was passed and, after all, Nebraska is a politically conservative state.  When you conduct a campaign of misinformation and obstruction, that is the response you will get.

Here is the reality of health care and health insurance Dave.  I am retired and am two years away from Medicare.  My wife just retired and is four years away from Medicare.  We just met with a representative of Blue Cross two days ago to try and determine what to do for health insurance.  We have three options: 

1)  We continue the coverage we had from my wife’s employer (similar to COBRA) at a cost of $1000/month.  

2)  We get a new policy with a higher deductible and less benefits at an estimated cost of $600/month.  

3)  We get a temporary policy similar to option #2, however with fewer benefits.  

Under options #2 and #3 we would be required to have physicals and any preexisting conditions would be excluded from coverage.  

Here’s the bottom line Dave.  I will start Social Security in September and my entire check will go to health insurance costs.  Since you refused to implement the health insurance exchange we will have to use the federal option to shop for health insurance in January.  But, because politicians like you have demagogued and sabotaged the Affordable Health Care Act, I don’t hold out much hope that the premiums will be competitive and for that you are a butthead.  Just one day more...

Friends

I was reading Tom's blog (Tom_Kathy_Retired) about plane crashes in Alaska and it reminded me of a friend who had an old Piper J4 Cub that was held together with duct tape and wire.  Not really, but it sure seemed like it (no where near as nice as the stock photo below).  The J4 was manufactured between 1938 and 1942.  I'm not sure how old his was, but it had to be near 45 years old when I went flying with him in the 1980's.

I used to go up with him and nothing scared him.  One time he phoned me and said he had to land about 60 miles from home and wondered if I would come pick him up.  When I got to the farm where he set the plane down I saw the cowl was all banged up.  Upon closer inspection I saw a connecting rod sticking out of a hole in the block.  I think it was an aluminum block. The piston was shredded.  I asked him what the heck happened and he nonchalantly said it was a "forced landing", but he just glided into a wheat field.  It must have been a loud bang when that piston went through the block.  After that I didn't go flying with him much.

My friend died of heart problems a couple of years ago and I will always remember how he scared the bejesus out of me in that rickety Piper J4 cub.  Just one day more...

Farm Workhorse

Four years ago when we moved to the farm the ground needed to be cleaned up.  Part of it had been farmed and part of it had cattle on it.  That required at tractor to disc, harrow and prepare for seeding.  A reliable tractor is integral to any hobby farm or acreage and we started out with a rebuilt Ford 8N.  The Ford 8N was manufactured from 1947-1952.

We got a lot of use out of the 8N, however it became clear during the first couple of winters that the little 8N wasn’t the best for snow removal.  A couple of years ago I ran across a fellow about 100 miles from us who restores older Ford tractors and he had just finished a Ford 2000.  The Ford 2000 was manufactured from 1965-1975.  

The advantage of the 2000 over the 8N is that it has a “live” PTO.  On the 8N when using any implement connected to the rear of the tractor on the 3 point hitch if you depress the clutch the PTO stops, which means the implement is useless.  On the 2000 the PTO continues to operate even if the clutch is depressed.  The other advantage on the restored 2000 was that it had a loader.  We made a good trade and the 2000 proved to be exactly what we needed.  Not too small and not too big.

Unfortunately, Ford manufactured the 2000 in 6 volt, which is slow to spin the starter and hard to start in the winter.  6 volt batteries also have a much shorter life than 12 volt batteries.  The answer is converting the 6 volt system over to 12 volt.  I kept procrastinating because I assumed it would require all new wiring, new coil, new starter and new generator.  It finally came to the point where I got tired of the 6 volt batteries dying and the hard starting.   I contacted a local shop and he told me there was a conversion kit.  He said for $400 he would do the job.  I was surprised when I picked up the tractor that there was only a small bit of wiring that needed to be changed and the generator was replaced with an 12 volt alternator.  That was it.  There was a good deal of labor to do the conversion, but it was sure worth it.  12 volt spins the starter really fast and even when the tractor sits idle for a long time it starts right up.

A good tractor on the farm is like a good workhorse.  Ours is now even more useful since the conversion to 12 volt.  Just one day more...   

Omaha

Today is my wife's 61st birthday and the first one since she officially retired from teaching.  We are going to Omaha to have lunch with our son and daughter.

I've been scouting around for a small outboard motor for our pontoon.  We have a 6 hp Johnson, circa 1960, however it is a short shaft and won't go completely in the water when on the pontoon.  Bummer, since it is still a good running motor.  I've been checking out motors online and may have to order one.

The problem is that the longest shaft motor in the lower hp is 25" and I won't know if that is long enough until mounted on the pontoon.  It might take some retrofitting and hopefully would work.  Maybe we'll stop by Cabela's and see what they have.

Shelling out the bucks for something like a new outboard motor is hard for a cheapskate like me and I've been researching it for about a month now.  Maybe it's time to bite the bullet.  Just one day more...

Excel Maritime Woes

BUTTHEAD OF THE WEEK

Shipping company Excel Maritime Carriers Ltd . filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after reaching a restructuring deal with its senior lenders.

Bermuda-based Excel Maritime owns and operates a fleet of vessels that carry dry bulk goods, such as iron ore, coal, grains, bauxite, fertilizers and steel products. The company currently operates 38 vessels.  (Wall Street Journal)

We currently have (had) stock in Excel Maritime.  It isn’t much, but we will lose the initial $1000. investment.  Such are the risks of investments, but there is more to the story of the bankruptcy filing of Excel Maritime.  Read on:

  

Holders of the company’s $163 convertible notes will be less fortunate, holding the bag for about two cents on the dollar.  As for common shareholders whose name does not rhyme with Panayotides, Excel Maritime’s Chairman, forget about them.  They stand to get nothing.

In a matter-of-fact summary of the treatment of various claims against the company in a bankruptcy reorganization, EXM disclosed in its own words that any equity security in Excel, including but not limited to stock, warrants and options will be canceled and holders of such securities will not retain any property or receive any recovery under the plan.

Big fleet acquisitions can lead to big headaches.  Excel Maritime consummated an aggressive takeover of Quintana Maritime back in April 2008.  It transformed itself overnight from a ho-hum owner to one of the largest dry bulk shipping companies in the industry.  It increased its fleet size from 18 vessels to 47 vessels plus an additional 8 new buildings.

Not all shareholders are created equal.  At the darkest hour, when most common shareholders of EXM are about to get wiped out, company insider and majority shareholder Gabriel Panayotides lives to see another day.  He gets to apply $20 million of funds already committed to the company, plus and additional $10 million to acquire 60% of the new equity.  He gets an option, should things go well over the next two years, to raise its equity stake to 75% for an additional $20 million.  During this initial two-year period he will also keep control of the company by having the right to appoint a majority of board members.  Now there is a fine example of value creation that unfortunately is unavailable to the rest of us.  (eCaptain.com)

Excel Maritime made an aggressive takeover of another shipper in 2008 and went from being a manageable and profitable shipper to a heavily leveraged shipper.  What is a hard pill to swallow is how Excel Maritime Chairman Gabriel Panayotides will come out of the bankruptcy unscathed and may even realize a financial gain.  Once again small time investors take it in the shorts, while the CEO (Panayotides) comes out ahead and for that he is a butthead.  Just one day more...

Pass the ammo

It has been just over seven months since the Sandy Hook shooting and the efforts to strengthen gun regulations have faded, which is unfortunate.

However, something which has not faded is the unfounded overreaction of the gun zealots.  The fear mongers resurrected the the cry that the “government” is going to take away their guns.  As a result there was a run on purchasing guns and ammunition.

I could care less about the run on purchasing guns and most ammunition, but what is aggravating is the run on small ammunition - specifically .22 caliber.  Here on the farm I have a .22 rifle for plinking and varmints.  Since Sandy Hook I haven’t been able to get .22 ammunition at the local farm supply store.  

When we were on our trip we stayed overnight at the Cabela’s RV park in Sidney, NE. Those who know about Cabela’s know that it is a huge store, similar to Bass Pro Shop.  I thought that surely Cabela’s would have a supply of .22 ammunition.  But no, the shelves were empty.

Seriously?!  The gun fanatics are worried about the “government” coming after their guns and ammo so they are hoarding .22 bullets?  Just one day more... 

Home

We made it home to the farm this afternoon to a hot, hot day.  96º and high humidity.  We covered 1910 miles on our trip and the only drawback was the cost of diesel fuel at an average of $3.88/gal.  It sure takes a bite out of travel budget.

The robins were busy while we were gone and these are two separate trees at ground level.  Hope the farm cat doesn't find them.  Just one day more...

Back in Nebraska

When we left the high country in Wyoming this morning it was 64º and as we traversed the mountains it was in the 60's at 4500 feet.  Then we got into Nebraska and it was in the high 80's with an equal dose of humidity.  Sheesssh.

We decided to stop at Sidney, NE to try out the Cabela's RV park for the first time.  Cabela's started in Sidney when two brothers began making fishing lures in their garage.  Since then it has become a huge chain of stores with multi-million dollar sales annually.

We got here at 3:00 MST and got the last FHU site.  There are overflow electric only sites, but we were surprised the park was full by so early in the day.  That was until I spotted the telltale signs of the huge trailers and trucks of the grain harvesters.

On the way we stopped off at Chimney Rock.  I had visited there some time back when I travelled on the road for work, however my wife has never been there - even though she grew up in Nebraska.

Chimney Rock is a landmark that the pioneers who moved west used as a marker for distance they had traveled and location.  It was formed by the ice age glaciers and volcanoes.  

There is speculation that the elements will eventually erode away Chimney Rock.  

We are 350 miles from home, so we'll see how the drive goes tomorrow.  If I get tired of driving we can always stay out another night out.  After all, that's retirement and as Croft would say... life is good.  Just one day more...

Sundance, WY

We made it to Wyoming yesterday and are staying in Sundance.  Today was a day of touring, including the Devil’s Tower and an archeology site called Buffalo Drop.  Another highlight of the day was picking up a Federal Parks Senior Card, which can be used for parks entry fees and camping discounts.  Woo Hoo.

We had thought that getting to Devil’s Tower early in the morning there would be less of a crowd and cooler weather.  It wasn’t long after the park opened that the crowds arrived.  

The tower was the first national monument designated by Teddy Roosevelt and was / is considered a sacred site by Native Americans.  Native Americans have protested allowing climbers on the tower, to little avail.  I can understand why they consider it sacred and tend to agree they should reconsider allowing climbing the tower.

Later in the afternoon we toured the Vore Buffalo Jump.  It is a natural pit and when engineers were surveying for the interstate they discovered that the pit held buffalo bones.  Since then they have been excavating and have taken nearly 15 tons of buffalo artifacts from the pit.  Native Americans drove the buffalo over the cliff of the pit to their deaths and harvested the buffalo for food and clothing.

We are on the edge of the Black Hills and will head south in Wyoming tomorrow on our route home.  My wife is worried about her flowers and garden, so it’s time to trek home.  Just one day more...

Homestead

We are camping (electric only) below the dam at Heartbutte (Lake Tschida).  We did some scouting around yesterday for the family homestead.  Some of it is under the lake now which is fed by the Heart River.  My dad mentioned spending time at his grandparents near the Heart River.  There is nothing left of the homestead, but it was nice to see where my great grandparents settled in the early 1900's.  This photo is somewhere near the location of the homestead, near as we can tell.

Short Drive

Yesterday we took a drive over to Elgin and New Leipzig.  Once again we saw fields of canola and stopped to get some close up photos.

In addition to the canola grown in the area, another unique crop is flax.  Flax is primely used for making linen paper, linseed oil and cloth which is three times stronger than cotton.

This area of North Dakota is generally flat, however marked with rocky buttes which were formed by receding glaciers during the ice age.  Much of the rocks forming the buttes are called scoria.  It is a dark brown, black and rust colored rock. The scoria forming the buttes is mixed in with hard red rock that was also formed by lava flows.  We drove up to the top of a butte to take a photo of a flax field with the town of Regent in the background. 

After our drive yesterday we came back to Regent for a relaxing afternoon visiting with my aunt and uncle who are also staying here in their RV.  In the evening we went to a community supper and had grilled burgers, brats and beer.  Today we will travel the short 45 miles to Heart Butte Dam and see if we can’t snag a few fish.  Just one day more... 

Regent, N.D.

We made the short one hour drive yesterday from Lemmon, S.D. to Regent, N.D.  In the 1950’s the population of Regent peaked at 405.  It averaged 300 during the 1930’s when my parents grew up here.  Like many other small farm communities Regent has lost population to cities.  Today approximately 160 people call Regent home.

Farming is the primary economy in the area, with wheat being the largest crop.  However, in recent years canola has become another crop.  Canola is similar to wheat in that it is grown for the seeds.  It has a distinctive yellow flower as it matures and when harvested is used to make canola oil.

As I mentioned previously, my ancestors immigrated in the early1900’s to this area from Germany.  My paternal grandfather was a rural mail carrier and I remember all the cars in his yard.  For whatever reason, he just parked the car when it finally died from running his mail route and got another.  When he died I was a teenager.  At the estate sale there was a salmon and white colored 1957 Ford Crown Victoria (similar to the stock photo below) that I tried to convince my dad to buy.  He refused and said he wasn’t going to drag a junk car home.  I wonder what that car would be worth today restored.

My maternal grandfather was the town blacksmith and I spent many days with him in his blacksmith shop.  It was noisy with all the belt driven equipment and hammering on the anvil.  He was skilled in his trade and farmers relied on him for repairs.  When he finally retired he donated his entire shop to the local museum and they moved all the heavy tools and equipment to the museum for display (photo below).

In 1989, a local resident and artist who grew up in Regent began constructing large sculptures and placing them on the highway leading to Regent.  HIs objective was to draw more people to Regent.  He continues to add sculptures on an annual basis and it has become a tourist attraction to draw travelers off the interstate highway to the north of Regent.  There is also a campground with full hookups, which is where we are staying.

It is a bit of a distance from Nebraska to Regent, but always worth the drive.  All of my relatives have moved away, but still come back to visit and that is good for the local economy.  Germans like their beer and we certainly keep the local tavern in business.  Just one day more...

Trip to town

The area around Lemmon has a rich archeological history of petrified wood and fossils. The town maintains a large petrified wood park and I can remember our family stopping there over the years.  Yesterday we decided to go to town and tour the park again.  History and archeology has always fascinated me and going through the Lemmon petrified park is always interesting.

Millions of years ago glaciers and volcanic activity covered up trees and animals.  As they decayed, the organic materials were replaced with minerals (mostly a silicate, such as quartz), while retaining the original structure of the tissue.

The area around Regent, N.D. also has some petrified wood and artifacts.  Many rocks formed by the glaciers are in the area, including one known as a “cannonball” because of the distinctive round shape. They were formed by the precipitation of a considerable amount of cementing material around a nucleus, often organic, such as a leaf, tooth, piece of shell or fossil. In fact the Cannonball River near Regent, where my Dad played as a kid, was given the name because of the number of the cannonball rocks in the area.  The display in Lemmon is of the cannonball rocks in a stack. 

  

While in town we also stopped by the local museum which displays artifacts of Native Americans, early settlers to the area and fossils.  Included in the number of fossils are the petrified skulls of a T-Rex and Triceratops, both found locally.  

One of the most famous complete dinosaurs, “Sue” the T-Rex was discovered near Faith, S.D. 

It is an amazing story of discovery, dispute over ownership and a final sale price of $7.6 million.  It’s a long story, so you can read about it HERE.

All in all it was an worthwhile trip to town and I even scored a couple of books at the museum. 

Depending on access to wifi, tomorrow a bit more history on the town of Regent.  Just one day more...